I feel crazy for being hopeful from what I saw in this demo based on all the negativity. To me the graphics were not that big of a deal, fans have cried and moaned over the look of Halo’s gameplay demos since Halo 3 and each time the games come out looking great. The biggest takeaway for me from the demo is that 343I is going back to what made halo special in the first place and that is the sandbox. This needed to be first and foremost on the list of priorities if this is to be a successful Halo game.
-It looks like they toned down the homing of plasma weapons that turned Halo 4/5 into a cover shooter.
-The Story, or at least the moments in between major story moments don’t seem to take themselves too seriously. Examples: brutes throwing suicide grunts, grunts yelling stop when you’re about to run them over. This had a more classic halo feel.
-Blood is back, it seems like they made a compromise here with blood spray coming back, but blood splattering the floors and walls is still absent. I’ll take it.
-Combat encounters seemed more dynamic with more ways to approach a given area. I am basing this off of the both the demo and the gameplay trailer which were both captured during the same mission in the same area. Both sections looked like they tackled the fights in very different ways.
-The grapple adds new ways to interact with the environment and if we see more interesting and creative ways to use it in game then it will be a welcome addition. I’m very curious to see how it interacts with vehicles, can we use it to fling ourselves on an arc instead of just a straight shot? Will halo finally get boss fights right and incorporate equipment into defeating tougher special enemies? This will make encounters so much more interesting.
I’m hopeful that there are other neat unexpected additions to spice up combat in the campaign and from the way they were explaining how upgrades work in this game I think that just might be the case. Graphics can improve, the core gameplay design of a game cannot easily change and from the small section we saw it looks like they nailed it. There is still so much to know and look forward to and the lore nerd in me cannot wait to explore the ring and fill out the codex. The game is supposedly huge in scale and it is disappointing that people are willing to write Halo off or feel like they’ve been betrayed in some way over some (minor in my opinion) graphical flaws.
I’m excited because while the graphics and pop in are making people unhappy, I’m pretty sure those will be fixed long term (hopefully before launch). 343 has proven to me with H4 and H5 they know how to generate good graphics, even if I wasn’t a huge fan of the art style.
I also don’t think we have a great idea of what Slipspace is capable if from a technical standpoint aside from graphics, which will definitely improve over time. I think there’s a lot of stuff about the engine that we simply aren’t aware of from seeing a short snippet of a rehearsed gameplay segment.
Personally I’m most excited about the apparent lack of load screens, and I’m eagerly awaiting them to confirm that Series X will have that as a native feature for the Infinite.
I’m excited because gameplay wise, it looks like it has a ton of interesting things to offer. However, I’m really worried if will have enough time to polish in in these 4 months
> 2557401216976241;1:
> I feel crazy for being hopeful from what I saw in this demo based on all the negativity. To me the graphics were not that big of a deal, fans have cried and moaned over the look of Halo’s gameplay demos since Halo 3 and each time the games come out looking great. The biggest takeaway for me from the demo is that 343I is going back to what made halo special in the first place and that is the sandbox. This needed to be first and foremost on the list of priorities if this is to be a successful Halo game.
>
> -It looks like they toned down the homing of plasma weapons that turned Halo 4/5 into a cover shooter.
>
> -The Story, or at least the moments in between major story moments don’t seem to take themselves too seriously. Examples: brutes throwing suicide grunts, grunts yelling stop when you’re about to run them over. This had a more classic halo feel.
>
> -Blood is back, it seems like they made a compromise here with blood spray coming back, but blood splattering the floors and walls is still absent. I’ll take it.
>
> -Combat encounters seemed more dynamic with more ways to approach a given area. I am basing this off of the both the demo and the gameplay trailer which were both captured during the same mission in the same area. Both sections looked like they tackled the fights in very different ways.
>
> -The grapple adds new ways to interact with the environment and if we see more interesting and creative ways to use it in game then it will be a welcome addition. I’m very curious to see how it interacts with vehicles, can we use it to fling ourselves on an arc instead of just a straight shot? Will halo finally get boss fights right and incorporate equipment into defeating tougher special enemies? This will make encounters so much more interesting.
>
> I’m hopeful that there are other neat unexpected additions to spice up combat in the campaign and from the way they were explaining how upgrades work in this game I think that just might be the case. Graphics can improve, the core gameplay design of a game cannot easily change and from the small section we saw it looks like they nailed it. There is still so much to know and look forward to and the lore nerd in me cannot wait to explore the ring and fill out the codex. The game is supposedly huge in scale and it is disappointing that people are willing to write Halo off or feel like they’ve been betrayed in some way over some (minor in my opinion) graphical flaws.
You make some really good points. Thanks
I think there’s plenty to be cautiously optimistic about from the gameplay demo. The graphics are indefensible (not that the game looks horrible, but it is certainly a far cry from what should be considered “next-gen”, at least in the state it is shown in during the demo), but there’s a lot of ambition in the mechanics and design, while it all hearkens back to some of the most beloved features of “Classic Halo,” (Art direction, expansive/open level design, equipment pickups, etc.)
I think fans of the series have a lot to drool over between all of the positives, even if most of the criticism being levied at the graphics is fair. Time will tell if the concerns are ultimately justified, but at this point I’m just dying to play a new Halo game.